South Africa's Eskom gets rough treatment

摘要

South Africa must be one of the few countries in the world where a power price rise can draw anger, accusations, a threat of massed strikes, street protests and the kind of raucous, passionate debate usually reserved for elections. Yet this was the case when the national power generator Eskom put forward its proposal for a 34% hike in power tariffs to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.rn170 individuals and groups objected to the proposed increase. 25 were invited to give sworn evidence at public hearings in Pretoria on June 8-9. Outside the hearing hundreds of protesters waved banners, many mocking the national power generator with one word : "Eishkom!." In South Africa, the world "Eish" is a slang exclamation for a mistake or disaster.